Cytonic Archives - Novel Notions

Book Review: Cytonic (Skyward, #3) by Brandon Sanderson

December 15, 2023 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

Review copy provided by the publisher—Gollancz—in exchange for an honest review.

Cover art illustrated by Sam Green

Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Skyward (Book #3 of 4)

Genre: Sci-fi

Pages: 432 pages (Hardcover edition)

Publish date: 23rd of November 2021 by Delacorte Press (US) & Gollancz (UK)

Cytonic was not as underwhelming as I expected, which is good, but it felt like reading a middle-book syndrome despite it being the penultimate installment of the series.

“Sometimes it’s too easy to forget the things you should remember — and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.”

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TS’s Best Reads of 2021

January 3, 2022 TS Chan Comments 4 comments

This is my journey in books for 2021!

Hi everyone, TS here! Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge that I’ve been inconsistent in my blogging/reviewing on Novel Notions this year. I couldn’t find the energy or will or brain-power as I found myself in a new expanded role at work that has a challenging learning curve, and discovered that I enjoy cooking and baking (even embarked on sourdough) so much that I started spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

I did manage to meet my reading challenge of 100 books this year regardless, and it’s probably the most diverse year of reading that I’ve had in my entire life. While fantasy remains my favourite genre for its sense of wonder, I found myself gravitating a lot towards mysteries this year, and also reading a lot more non-fiction.

I’ve decided to organise my best reads of 2021 a bit differently from prior years, somewhat thematically instead of the usual parameters and rankings.

And we’ll start with….
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Book Review: Cytonic (Skyward, #3) by Brandon Sanderson

November 29, 2021 TS Chan Comments 0 Comment

Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Skyward (Book 3 of 4)

Genre: Science fiction, young adult

Published: 23rd November 2021 by Gollancz (UK) and Delacorte Press (US)

No surprises, Cytonic was a superb read filled with brilliantly creative worldbuilding and compelling characterisation that I’ve always expected, and received, from Sanderson.

It all started with a novella that he wrote and submitted to a magazine way back before he was even published. That piece of work received an honourable mention at the Writers of the Future contest in 2003, and after substantial re-editing in 2008 won first place in the UPC Science Fiction Award in Spain, and was published in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction. However, for the most of the past decade, most readers have only known Sanderson as a bestselling fantasy author as aside from a few short stories, he had not really written a science fiction series. That is, not until Skyward came about – and it was just as fantastic as his fantasy writing. The fact that it’s YA took away nothing from his ability to spin the most incredibly engaging stories set in the most imaginative settings.

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